Strat tone cap question

I have NO luck with the seach function on this site! I have a '62 AVRI Strat that I put CS54 pickups in and the treble is really piercing. I have adjusted the height and done everything to reduce it and it seems I have to turn the tone control down to about 3. It has a .1uF tone cap. Can I change the value to something else to reduce the piercing treble? Does the type of cap make a difference, some smoother than others?

An American Standard uses a .022uF.

It might sound counter intuitive, but that large value tone cap may be the problem, and going to a smaller value cap may actually improve things.

Why? A .1uf cap is passing alot of signal - not just treble, but pretty much everything. Menaing that the total signal output of the guitar is just plain weak. When this weak signal gets amplified it can sound thin and too trebly.

Try going with a smaller value cap (.047uf or .033uf) and also try adjusting the pickups, I find most sound best when the distance between the top of the polepiece and the bottom of the string - fretted at its highest fret, is about 1/8".

Lastly, reconsider your amps EQ settings, if your amp is dialed in for a dark humbucker equipped guitar it will likely sound piercing with single coils.

That .1 cap is what you want for a tone cap in a strat but that is my opinion. If it piercing with that .1 cap, check the value of the tone pot. If it's higher than 250k, it's going to be bright. I'm assuming it has single coils. .1 cap is what they used in the vintage fenders back in the day.